Heating apparatus



Oct. 31, 1961 3,006,406

J. A. GODDARD HEATING APPARATUS Filed March 18, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Jmvflussu. 6000A e0.

WQZMM ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 31, 1961 v .1. A. GODDARD 3,006,405

HEATING APPARATUS Filed March 18, 1958 25heets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JZJHNA NJELL GODDA ED.

MA/MZMW ATTO R N EYS 3,00%,405 Patented Oct. 31, 1961 fice 3,006,406 HEATING APPARATUS John Ansell Goddard, Ashtead, England, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Ronson Corporation, Woodbridge, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 18, 1958, Ser. No. 722,187 3 Claims. (Cl. 15832) The invention relates to heating apparatus which is preferably of the portable, self-contained type, and which is fueled by combustible gas of the butane type, i.e. gases such as butane or propane which assume gaseous form when released under usual atmospheric temperatures and pressures, but which remain largely in liquid form at such temperatures when held under sufiicient pressure. The apparatus may be utilized for various purposes, e.g. as a heater for plates, trays, cooking utensils and the like, the disclosed embodiment being arranged to sterilize instrurnents immersed in a heated bath. In one of its aspects the invention comprises a casing constructed to receive and hold fuel of the above type, and provided with a number of burner units as needed, in combination with manually controlled mechanism of the character hereinafter described for conjointly opening and closing oif the fiow of gaseous fuel through the burner units when desired, and for conjointly regulating the height of the flame at the various burners. In another aspect the invention involves the correlation of the manually operated control mechanism above referred to, with an appropriate valve for charging the apparatus with fuel, to insure that fuel may be charged in only when the flow of fuel through the burners is closed off. Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the description hereinafter contained which taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings discloses a preferred form of heating apparatus constructed to operate in accordance with the invention; the disclosure however should be considered as merely illustrative of the invention in its broader aspects.

In the drawings- FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in section, showing a heating apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, partly in section, showing in greater detail certain features of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged central sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 1; and showing a preferred form of injection valve for recharging the apparatus with fuel;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged central sectional view taken along line 66 of FIG. 1, showing a form of burner unit preferred for use in the apparatus.

The disclosed apparatus includes a main casing 12 having therein a fuel reservoir 13 which is appropriately charged with butane type fuel under pressure, preferably in the manner hereinafter described in greater detail. A plurality of burner units as denoted generally at 16 are mounted in the top wall 17 of casing 12. Any desired number of these units may be provided, and positioned with respect to each other as needed to suit the area to be heated. A preferred form of burner unit is hereinafter described in greater detail, it being understood for the present that each such unit is provided with a closure valve having a depressible stem 42 (FIGS. 3 and 4) which is exposed at the mouth of the burner, and so coordinated with the burner structure that the flow of fuel from reservoir 13 through the burner is closed off when the stem 42 is depressed, the burner being open for the flow of fuel therethrough when pressure upon the stem 42 is released.

To adjust the above-mentioned valves between open and closed positions, valve closure members 44 are disposed respectively adjacent the burner units served thereby, these valve closure members being shown in the form of spring fingers mounted to move between positions wherein they respectively depress and release the valve stems 42. The closure members 44 are actuated by a valve adjusting member 46 which is shown in the form of a slide mounted to move back and forth along the top wall 17 of casing 12, between guides 43 at its sides and under a guide 45, the spring fingers 44 being carried by the slide 46. A manually operable control member 47 for shifting the slide 46 is shown in the form of a thrust rod reciprocably mounted above the top wall of the casing and provided with a fingerpiece 62, the thrust rod 47 being preferably coupled to slide 46 by a swivel connection as indicated at 49 (FIGS. 3 and 4) so that slide 46 will partake of the back and forth movements of the control member, but the latter may be turned angularly independently of the slide for purposes hereinafter referred to. Thus by manually moving the control member 47 back and forth the flow of fuel through the several burner units may be conjointly opened and closed off.

Each of the burner units should also be understood as provided with an angularly movable member 40 so coordinated with the burner structure that angular movement of such member in opposite directions respectively increases and decreases the height of the flame at the burner, these individual flame regulating members being coupled to a manually operated control member so that the flame height at the several burners may be conjointly adjusted. In the illustrated form of invention each of the above mentioned angularly movable members 40 is shown as an adjusting wheel and is provided with an arm 56 projecting therefrom. Arm 56 extends between shoulders 54, 55 on a slide piece 53 which overlies the upper wall 17 of the casing. In the disclosed form of the invention one end of this slide piece is guided by a block 58 and the other end thereof is fixed to an internally threaded nut 59 which engages a threaded sleeve 60 surrounding the thrust rod 47. The rod 47 may be moved back and forth to adjust the burner valves 16 as previously described without afiecting the sleeve 60, but the rod 47 may be understood as appropriately splined to the sleeve 60 in such manner that when rod 47 is moved angularly in either direction, sleeve 60 will turn with it. Thus by turning the fingerpiece 62 in one direction or the other, the slide piece 53 may be shifted to conjointly increase or decrease the flame height at the several burner units.

For a better understanding of the operation of a preferred form of the burners 16 reference should be had to FIG. 6 in which it can be seen that each burner 16 is provided with an outer housing 103 adapted to be screwed into the upper surface of the case 12. An inner housing 102 is provided which is slidable axially within the outer housing 103. The outer housing 103 has threaded engagement with an adjusting bush 105 at 106. The adjusting bush 105 has splined engagement with the adjusting wheel 40 at 107 and is provided with an orifice 104 through which stem 42 projects and within which the stem 42 is slidable axially. The outer housing 103 has a recess 108 on its outer periphery to accommodate a spring clip 110 which also engages a recess 111 in adjusting wheel 40 to retain the adjusting wheel in position.

As shown in FIG. 6 a rigid member 101 is provided which has a recess 131 in its upper surface. The recess 131 is adapted to accommodate a steel ball 132 as shown.

The lower surface of the inner housing 102 is generally conical as shown at 112 and is provided with a conical central aperture 113. The housing 102 is thereby provided with a zone 114 between which and the ball 132 a wick 115 is adapted to be compressed. The Wick 115 is provided with liquid fuel from the reservoir 13.

The inner housing 102 is also provided with a periph eral recess 116 Within which a sealing washer 117 is located to prevent passage of gaseous fuel between the housing 102 and the outer housing 103. The stem 42 which projects upwardly through the orifice 104 extends downwardly through a central opening in the inner housing 102 and is provided at its lower end with a disc 121 adapted to cooperate with the aperture 113 to control the flow of fuel to the outlet.

A ball race 123 rests on the upper surface of a flange 124 of inner housing 102. The ball race 123 is separated from adjusting bush 105 by resilient washers 122 and 122a. The flange 124 of housing 102 is in turn separated from a shoulder 125 of outer housing 103 by a resilient washer 130.

By means of the resilient washers 122 and 122a, a certain amount of lost motion is provided in that when the adjusting wheel 40 is rotated to cause the bush 105 to move downwardly in the housing 103, the washers 122 and 122a are compressed and thus a relatively large rotary movement of the bush 105 results in a relatively small axial movement of the rigid member 102 and gives a finer adjustment of the flame height. The ball race 123 serves to reduce the wear and distortion of the resilient washers 122 and 122a caused by the twisting motion induced by the rotation of the bush 105. It should be noted that the spring clip 110 and splined engagement 107 between the adjusting wheel 40 and the adjusting bush 105 permit the adjusting wheel 40 to be readily removed so that the adjusting bush 105 can be adjusted directly. This allows the adjusting bush 105 to be used as a coarse adjustment and the wheel 40 to be used as a fine adjustment so that the degree of angular movement which can be brought about in the adjustment of wheel 40 by the use of the slide piece 53 as described above will be sufficient to adjust the flame height within the desired limits.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1-4, when the slide 46 'is in position to close the burners 16 by depressing the stems 42, a fuel charging valve 34 is exposed so that additional fuel may be added as described below. When the slide 46 is in the position shown in FIG. 4, that is, with the closure members 44 removed from the stems 42 so that gas may escape from the burners, access to the fuel charging valve 34 is prevented by the slide 46. The slide 46 is thus adapted to block access to the fuel charging valve 34 whenever the burners 16 are lit or gas is escaping from them while still allowing easy access to the fuel charging valve for refilling the reservoir 13 when the stems 42 are depressed and gas is not escaping from the burners 16.

FIG. shows in greater detail a preferred form of fuel charging valve 34. In FIG. 5 it can be seen that the fuel valve 34 has a cylindrical housing 70 which is secured in the top wall of the casing 12. The housing 70 is provided near its inner end with an annular rib 72 beyond which there is formed a recess for receiving and holding a fluid tight ring or Washer 74 of quadrangular cross section and whose outer face is covered at its edge by a bead 75 which may be an extension ofhousing 70. An inner valve housing 76 passes through the central opening of the washer 74 and terminates in a head 77 which provides a shoulder 78 intended for sealing contact with the washer 74. The body of the inner valve housing 76 opposite the head 77 is of reduced diameter and externally threaded to receive a nut 79 having an annular flange 80. The flange 80 is of less transverse diameter than the interior of the housing 70 so as to provide a free space between the periphery of the flange and the inner face of the housing 70, which space communicates with the atmosphere when the reservoir 13 is being filled.

A spring 81 is confined between the rib 72 and the flange thereby normally biasing the head 77 to cause the shoulder 78 to contact the washer 74 and thereby completely close the reservoir 13 to the outer air.

When the neck 82 of the fuel tank 15 is manually pushed into the open socket end of the outer housing 70, the inner housing 76 will be actuated against the efiort of the spring 81 to move the face of shoulder 78 out of contact with washer 74. The inner housing 76 carries a hollow needle 83 adapted to pierce a closure plug 84 which normally closes the tank 15.

An inlet port 85 in the head 77 communicates with the hollow needle 83 and the exit end of said port is located at such a distance from the edge of the washer 74, that during the axial movement of the inner housing 76 from its normally closed position, the shoulder 78 is moved out of contact with the related face of the washer 74 before the exit end of the port 85 is uncovered. As the housing 76 returns to its normal position after filling, the port 85 is closed before shoulder 78 contacts washer 7 4.

An annular groove 86 is provided in the face of head 77 which is adjacent washer 74. Groove 86, together with a passage 87, a conduit 88, and the space between inner housing 76 and outer housing 70 provides a continuous passageway from the interior of reservoir 13 to the outside atmosphere when the shoulder 78 of head 77 is not in direct contact With washer 74.

"In the form of the invention shown, a sterilizing tank 18 may be mounted above the burners 16 by suitable means such as heat insulating blocks 19 (FIGS. l-3). A detachable wire screen 27 may also be provided as shown in FIG. 1 to promote even distribution of heat from the burners.

In the disclosed embodiment, the fuel will evaporate at the upper central surface area of the wicking, and pass up through the space surrounding the burner valve stem to the mouth of the burner, being initially ignited in admixture with the surrounding air, by any suitable means.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broader aspects and it is intended to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Heating apparatus of the character described including a casing constructed to hold fuel of the butane type under pressure, a plurality of burner units disposed in spaced relation along a wall of said casing and each communicating with the interior of said casing, each of said burner units having a closure valve provided with a depressible stem which is exposed at the mouth of the burner, valve closure members disposed respectively adjacent said burner units and mounted to move between positions wherein they respectively depress and release said stems, means for conjointly actuating said closure members comprising a valve adjusting member mounted to move back and forth along said wall and connected to said closure members to move the latter between their positions above set forth, individual flame regulating means for each of said burner units comprising an angularly movable member which respectively increases and decreases the flame when turned in opposite directions, a manually operable control member mounted to move in dilferent directions, and means connecting said control member with said angularly movable members to conjointly adjust their angular positions.

2. Heating apparatus of the character described including a casing constructed to hold fuel of the butane type under pressure, a plurality of burner units disposed in spaced relation along a wall of said casing and each communicating with the interior of said casing, each of said burner units having a closure valve provided with a depressible stem which is exposed at the mouth of the burner, valve closure members disposed respectively adjacent said burner units and mounted to move between positions wherein they respectively depress and release said stems, means for conjointly actuating said closure members comprising a valve adjusting member mounted to move back and forth along said wall and connected to said closure members to move the latter between their positions above set forth, individual flame regulating means for each of said burner units comprising an angularly movable member which respectively increases and decreases the flame when turned in opposite directions, a manually operable control member mounted to move angularly and back and forth along said wall, means connecting said control member with said angularly movable members to conjointly adjust their angular positions by angular movement of said control member, and means connecting said control member with said valve adjusting member to control the back and forth movement of said valve adjusting member by back and forth movement of said control member.

3. Heating apparatus of the character described including a casing constructed to hold fuel of the butane type under pressure, a plurality of burner units disposed in spaced relation along a wall of said casing and each communicating with the interior of said casing, each of said burner units having a closure valve provided with a depressible stem which is exposed at the mouth of the burner, valve closure members disposed respectively adjacent said burner units and mounted to move between positions wherein they respectively depress and release said stems, means for conjointly actuating said closure members comprising a valve adjusting member mounted to move back and forth along said wall and connected to said closure members to move the latter between their positions above set forth, individual flame regulating means for each of said burner units comprising an angularly movable member which respectively increases and decreases the flame when turned in opposite directions, a control rod mounted to move back and forth along said wall, means connecting said control rod with said angularly movable members to conjointly adjust their angular positions by longitudinal movement of said control rod, a manually operable control member mounted to move both angularly and back and fonth along said wall, means connecting said control member with said control rod to adjust the longitudinal position of said control rod by angular movement of said control member, and means connecting said control member with said valve adjusting member to control the back and fonth movement of said valve adjusting member by back and forth movement of said control member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 299,853 Ringen June 3, 1884 918,879 Martindale Apr. 20, 1909 2,728,335 Garrett et al. Dec. 27, 1955 

